Second term ends on April 30; new academic year begins on May 26
With the changes, the new academic year will be moved to January within two years, he said.
The Education Minister Dr Ismail Shafeeu told some media on Monday that the current second term of the academic year 2023-2024 will end on April 30 and the new academic year will start on May 26.
Some media reports quoted the minister as saying that the move was in line with President Mohammed Muizzu's presidential promise to change the start date of the new academic year and the holidays.
The government intends to move the start date of the new academic year to January with minor changes to the semesters instead of making a full change suddenly.
Under the changes:
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Second term of the 2023-2024 academic year - 7 January to 30 April
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2024-2025 academic year - 26 May to 20 February next year
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2025 academic year - 9 March to 18 December of that year
So the big holiday of 2025 will be in December. From 2026 onwards, the new academic year will start in January, as President Muizzu promised.
The Cabinet meeting held on Sunday decided to make the big school holiday for December from next year.
The government intends to do so by gradually changing the academic calendar rather than suddenly changing the academic year, the President’s Office said at a press conference to brief the media on the decisions taken at the meeting.
With the changes, the new academic year will be moved to January within two years, he said.
The main holiday is to be postponed to December as a promise made by President Mohammed Muizzu during his presidential campaign. The President also explained his intention to change the holiday by elaborating on the promise during the campaign. Thus:
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A four-week school holiday will also be given in June-July
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With that, students will be given the main holiday in December; the major leave usually includes one and a half months
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By giving a holiday in the middle and end of the year, students will have time for their studies and other activities
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The decision was taken after consulting with education experts, he said
The main holiday has been moved to May-June by the government of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. One reason, the government said at the time, was that Maldives is a tourism-dependent country and resort employees could not make proper use of the school holidays during the peak season in December.
The weather is also bad at year end mostly. However, June-July is also a bad weather period for Maldives.
